CMG Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

A prolific SPAC creator has found a business partner for its fifth blank check company with just four weeks to go before a business combination deadline. Its partner had only disclosed a modest $27 million Series A last October as it plans to go after similar targets as Bayer and Roche. The name of the SPAC operator might not be familiar but its first partner likely is: Playboy. Then, prescription digital therapeutics startup Better Therapeutics. Third in line: digital healthcare company ETAO, which had its valuation slashed from $2.5 billion to $1 billion during the SPAC process. In May, a China-based electric vehicle maker signed up. Now, it’s AUM Biosciences’ turn. The clinical-stage Singapore-based cancer biotech — with offices in Bethesda, MD; Collingwood, Australia; and Suzhou, China — makes the move just days after another life sciences SPAC threw in the towel and as a second struck a deal. The blank check route has been a bumpy ride in the past year, following a pandemic boon for the quicker-to-Wall Street vehicle than the traditional listing, but multiple deals in the drug development world have been revealed in recent weeks . Some biotechs have completely reneged on combination plans. With the planned entry onto Nasdaq as AUMB, the startup will gain $69 million from the deal with Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp. V. But AUM will likely face an uphill battle as have so many life sciences companies and those in other industries following a SPAC merger. Better Therapeutics is a shell of the $10 at which its public journey began. So is Playboy, er, PLBY Group. AUM will have a pre-money valuation of $400 million, and the financing will help beef up US operations and clinical work, the company said. According to a federal trials database, AUM was slated to kick off a Phase II last week testing its lead drug, AUM001, as a monotherapy and in combination with Merck’s Keytruda in metastatic colorectal cancer. Another combination study of the MNK inhibitor, paired up with Roche’s Tecentriq, is also planned for patients with non-small cell lung cancer and urothelial cancer. Also in the MNK space is eFFECTOR Therapeutics, with tomivosertib in mid-stage studies, also combined with Keytruda. That program ran into a hurdle at the beginning of this year, months after eFFECTOR went public via its own SPAC deal . Further down in the pipeline are AUM601 and AUM302. The first is “on track to enter Phase 2,” AUM said Thursday, noting it’s targeting TRK mutations. The latter is a macrocyclic oral kinase inhibitor small molecule that the biotech claims will combine inhibition of pan-PIM kinase, pan-PI3K and mTOR all in one. The TRK inhibitor comes from Handok and CMG Pharmaceutical , under undisclosed terms and for worldwide rights, save for Korea. TRK is familiar among Big Pharma: Bayer’s Vitrakvi (via Loxo Oncology) blocks the protein, and Roche’s Rozlytrek also goes after TRK. AUM is also about to enter year three of a five-year tie-up with Newsoara Biopharma , in which the latter gains Greater China rights to co-develop up to six oncology drugs, including ‘001 and ‘302. As for the SPAC operator, Mountain Crest has little biotech experience on its board. The chair, Suying Liu, was on the business faculty at Washington University in St. Louis and then held stints across JP Morgan and other firms, mainly focused on real estate. Also on the board is Liu’s fellow Wash U colleague Todd Milbourn; Azia Capital Fund partner Wenhua Zhang; and oil & gas executive Nelson Haight. In a Nasdaq video posted last December, Liu talks about his SPAC partners’ strategy of rolling up additional companies post-merger. Time will tell if AUM finds more biotechs to bring into the fold. AUM CEO Vishal Doshi said in prepared remarks that the company is on track to hit multiple milestones in the next two years. Liu touted the deal will give AUM a “greater US footprint.” Expect a transaction closing in the first three months of 2023.

AUM Biosciences, a global clinical-stage biotech company, focused on discovering and developing novel targeted oncology therapeutics, Handok Inc. [002390: KOSPI] (“Handok”), a leading innovation-driven pharmaceutical / healthcare company in Korea, and CMG Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. [058820: KOSDAQ] (“CMG”) today jointly announced Phase 1 data for AUM-601 (CHC2014), a selective second generation “Pan-TRK” Inhibitor, was presented as a poster presentation at the ESMO Targeted Anticancer Congress 2022. The conference was held virtually March 7-8, 2022. Poster presentation details: Poster Title: A first-in-human, open-label, dose-escalation study to investigate the safety and tolerability of CHC2014, a tropomyosin receptor kinase (TRK) inhibitor, in adult patients with advanced solid tumors Lead Author and Presenter: Tak Yun, MD, PhD Session Type: E-Poster Display Session Permanent Abstract Number: 44P Study Conclusions: AUM601 (CHC2014) was safe and well-tolerated at dose levels of 50 to 300 mg QD. Doses of 200 and 300 mg QD were defined as recommend Phase 2 dose (RP2D) based on PK pro safety results. A multi-national phase 2 study will be conducted to assess the efficacy and safety in patients with NTRK fusions. Abstract available online:Annals of Oncology, VOLUME 33, SUPPLEMENT 1, S20, MARCH 01, 2022

11月13日，由清华大学医院管理研究院主办的医疗科技创新沙龙暨清华医疗健康科技领军者交流活动，以线下结合线上视频连线的形式顺利举行。清华大学医院管理研究院常务副院长张宗久、副院长薛镭、中国卫生经济学会会长饶克勤和GBI Health首席顾问、前世界银行经济学家陈怡，以及首期班全体学员受邀参加。活动由清华大学医院管理研究院副院长薛镭教授主持。 本次沙龙上，学员们以清华医疗健康科技领军者课程学习收获为依托，结合在其各自行业细分领域的战略实践、政策研究和科技创新展开分享，与四位专家共同探讨和交流医疗行业的现状与发展，四位专家在听取各位学员发言的同时，非常有针对性地做出点评并提出极具建设性的建议。 在医院高质量发展研讨环节中，爱尔眼科医院集团全球副总裁冯珺以“民营医疗机构向研究型组织发展思考”为主题进行分享。她表示张宗久院长指出的“三个提高”理念，即：提高效率、提高质量、提高待遇，为民营医疗机构不忘初心，在健康中国2030的医疗健康事业整体框架下，与公立医疗体系紧密配合，为医疗水平提升和人民健康发展做出应有贡献，不断促进机构自身高质量发展，不断向研究型组织转变指明了路径。另一方面，张宗久院长建议爱尔眼科应建立角膜库，并在角膜移植技术上寻求突破，同时加大对防近视和弱视工艺的研究力度。 在健康管理与医养结合研讨环节中，中康信有限公司创始人陈烨以“中国养老与医养照护模式探索”为主题分享了中国养老市场的发展机遇和痛点难点，以及在居家养老、社区养老和机构养老三大模式下的多元化探索。随后，张宗久院长针对我国医养结合问题提出建议，他指出，全球各国在应对老龄化和老年医疗照护方面各有国情，方法也各有特色，可以借鉴海外养老创新模式，充分发挥互助方式和多样支付手段，设计具有中国特色的养老照护体系。 在创新药物与精准医疗研讨环节中，华启生物科技董事长饶陆华以“精准检测助力医疗医药创新”为主题，向大家介绍了国内外精准医学领域发展现状和最新进展，并着重分享了他在临床中对精准检测技术的运用。张宗久院长表示，分子医疗是精准医疗的重要手段和分支，在本次疫情应对过程中我们看到，分子诊断实际上已经与测温、影像学等传统方法一样，发挥了重要作用，但同时也应看到，我国分子医学发展方兴未艾，还需持续加强基础投入。 在医疗服务创新发展研讨环节中，众惠相互保险社董事长李静和未来保贝科技创始人刘毅以“智慧分级诊疗，助力健康中国”为主题分别发言，分别介绍了他们通过创新互助保险体系和互联网赋能，在分级诊疗领域进行的创新探索。对此，陈怡教授充分肯定了其在智慧分级诊疗实践中的思考与尝试，她表示，通过新技术与新模式融合，使医疗服务变得更为可及、更有效率是非常好的思路。 最后，在创新器械与智慧医疗研讨环节中，长久康联创始人范晓玲以“高端植介入医疗器械创新路径”为主题发言，她表示医疗器械要实现国产化、高端化和产业链本土化，对从业人员来说任重道远，也需要国家和社会各界的支持。同时她分享了其自主研发的医疗器械专利技术和最新成果。随后，饶克勤教授对此也发表了看法，他认为，医疗器械的技术评估是影响本土化发展的一大障碍，他建议由行业协会成立相关专业技术评估委员会，进一步建立健全技术评估标准和规范，加快医疗器械国产化的步伐。 医疗科技创新沙龙由清华大学医院管理研究院发起主办,将聚焦“医疗·科技·未来”三大主题，为推动医疗和科技的有机融合和共生发展，搭建产学研交流合作平台。未来将定期通过组织线上、线下活动，共同探讨政策热点、学术前沿、产业焦点话题。 “清华医疗健康科技领军者”是专门面向医疗科技创业家和医疗健康管理者的高端培养项目。课程依托清华大学强大的学术背景，集结国内医疗临床、医疗管理和医疗健康产业三大领域的顶尖专家师资。围绕产业格局、创新机遇、政策解读、服务体系、机构管理、前沿科技等9大课程模块展开。